Ogun State, Nigeria — August 17, 2025 | For generations, residents of a border community in Ogun State have endured a deepening health crisis marked by the absence of accessible medical services, leaving women, children, and families vulnerable to preventable deaths.
Situated along the Nigeria–Benin border, the community has been cut off from functional healthcare facilities, forcing expectant mothers to deliver at home without skilled supervision. Those who attempt to reach the nearest clinic often face long, treacherous journeys through rough terrain — a risk that has, in many cases, cost mothers and newborns their lives. In critical emergencies, families are left with no choice but to rely on untrained birth attendants or seek risky cross-border treatment options.
Residents lament that successive administrations have made repeated promises to intervene, yet the reality remains unchanged. The lack of health infrastructure has contributed to high maternal and infant mortality rates, while also exposing the community to frequent outbreaks of malaria, cholera, and measles.
Health experts describe the situation as a reflection of Nigeria’s broader challenges in primary healthcare delivery, particularly in rural and underserved regions. They warn that without deliberate investment in rural health systems, border communities like this will remain trapped in cycles of neglect, poverty, and preventable loss of lives.
Community leaders have now renewed calls on both federal and state governments to urgently establish functional primary healthcare centers, deploy trained medical staff, and improve road access to hospitals. According to them, every delay perpetuates a tragic reality where families face the risk of losing mothers and babies at childbirth — a cycle of neglect they describe as being “stranded at birth.